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After upgrading both sql server and management studio from 2008 to 2012, the management studio 2012 is very slow when new query windows and dialog boxes are opened. Even right click on tables is slow. There is typically at least a 5 second delay before I can start doing anything within a window. This happens every time, even if I open the same window twice in a row. What happens and how could I fix this?

I tried a hit on google where I'd need to modify my hosts file, but that didn't help.

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Even i have faced this issue when i downloaded the trial version .There is a delay when we open a query window. Probably in their next small release they will rectify this issue
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praveenMay 30 '12 at 9:27

I'm adding a bounty here because I'm curious as well: I'm using 2012 RTM: (Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio 11.0.2100.60) and consistently get about 8 seconds start up time (even with nosplash and all the tricks below, etc...)
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Michael J SwartJul 4 '12 at 15:59

what are you using a Pentium 4? Seriously, what's the CPU resources? Are you out of harddrive space? 5400 rpm harddrive or 7200?
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Aaron KempfJul 5 '12 at 10:29

1

My hardware should definitely not be a problem. It looks like it's waiting for something - I can operate other programs smoothly while this is happening.
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DavidJul 10 '12 at 13:21

I'd like to add that I use both Visual Studio 2010 and SSMS 2012 and SSMS is bizarrely slow (VS 2010 is fine though). It seems to be something where it is 'communicating' with the SQL server.
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Joel MansfordSep 3 '12 at 15:59

10 Answers
10

I have the same experience as you when I connect to Server Name "./". By dumb luck I found that I do not experience the performance issue when I connect to Server Name "(local)". There's probably an issue with the way SSMS 2012 resolves the server through "./".

Edit: I don't think it's related to SSMS since I can reproduce the slowness with ./ in an ADO.NET connection.

You will find subfolder "11.0". Rename it to "11.0_", so you can always rename it back. Now start SSMS - it will re-create clean settings and maybe your problem will be solved. If not - delete newly generated "11.0" and rename "11.0_" to "11.0" back and wait for another proposal here ;)

Ok. This also might be a behaviour of some add-in, that got corrupted after upgrade. Add-ins register themselves as handlers for some commands or events and system might get unstble if they are missing/throwing exceptions. Actually, v2012 uses another mechanism for registering add-ins, but some add-ins install themselves on all instances. To check, look into this registry key: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\SQL Server Management Studio\11.0_Config\AutomationOptions\LookInFolder] you will find folders list there. Check all these folders - they must be empty (means you have no add-ins).
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Andrei RantsevichJul 10 '12 at 21:21

I have not personally experienced this issue, however there is a long thread (here) where many people have. The general advice seems to be to related to working with your video driver by either

Installing an updated video driver -OR-

Reducing or turning off hardware exceleration -OR-

Turning off DirectX support

From the thread there was also this answer...
"Windows 7 Clean Boot procedure revealed the service Biometric Authentication Service (DigitalPersona DPHostw.exe) was the problem. Disabling the service fixed the problem."

I would be interested to know if any of these approaches work in your case as well, as the thread I found relates to older versions of SSMS, i.e. 2005, 2008 , etc...

I would guess the problem is that opening a new connection to your server takes 5 seconds. Why exactly this is the case I cannot tell and it would require a wire trace to analyze and diagnose. You should investigate what protocol(s) are being attempted and what protocol eventually succeed. It could be that your client attempts named pipes first (which depends on SMB) and then falls back to TCP (although the usual delay in such a case is much longer, around 20-30s seconds).

I have the same problem and it turns out Trend Micro Office scan is causing the problem.

I tried everything described in several other similar threads about this problem with no avail. I figured i'll try disable the AV software.. Once Trend Micro Office scan is off, SSMS is lightening fast.

SSMS in SQL Server 2012 now uses the Visual Studio 2010 shell, which is more resource intensive than the shell used by SSMS in SQL Server 2008. I suggest upgrading your computer or using SSMS from SQL Server 2008 R2. You should be able to perform most tasks with the old version.

You could also try installing the latest cumulative update as they will update the client tools as well. The latest version for SQL Server 2012 is currently CU1.

My computer should be more than good enough. Unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to install the update because there seems to be some risk of errors installing hotfixes and I can't risk that right now. I saw CU2 has been released now if anyone with the same problem wants to try.
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DavidJul 10 '12 at 13:17